Poor Ben Affleck. Let's face it, if you were offered the chance to be Batman, you'd snap the offering hand off - Affleck does so, and he almost breaks the internet. Recent superb performances in Argo and The Town were instantly forgotten by Batman fanboys, and wrathful asides to Gigli and the awful Daredevil were scrawled across forums and websites. Truly, a poisoned chalice. I didn't personally agree with the casting of Affleck in the forthcoming Superman Vs Batman film, though not for reasons concerning the poor fella's acting chops. I suspect he'll probably make a better Bruce Wayne than Batman, but he has matured as an actor in recent years enough for him to do a better job than some of his predecessors in the role. My main concern is that, if the storyline is to follow the same trajectory as Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns as strongly rumoured, Affleck may simply be too young to be believable as a grizzled, weary older Batman-Bruce/Bats is 55 in the graphic novel. There are plenty of older actors out there who I believe would have made a decent crack as a Batman in his later years. I've chosen 5 that have either proved themselves to be fantastic at playing seasoned and weary crimefighters, have the acting chops to handle the dual identity role as well as Christian Bale did, or would have been a satisfying choice for me personally...
Honourable Mention - Michael Keaton
Tim Burton's Batman often seemed like a supporting character to the villains in his two films, but Keaton's performance was worthy of a higher billing than Nicholson's Joker or DeVito's Penguin. He made a superb Bruce Wayne-introverted, disinterested in the trappings of his wealth and a complete lone wolf. As Batman, he was utterly immersed in his demons and had a taste for the macabre. I would have loved to have seen how Keaton would have portrayed an older Batman, given that his characterisation was already well onto Miller's trajectory by the end of Batman Returns.